The Influence of People - Gower - page 57

THE AGE OF SAINTS
When, around AD 400, Rome abandoned Britain, South Wales reverted to the Iron Age pattern of small
independent kingdoms. From the seventh to the ninth century 'Guhir' formed part of the 'Seisyllwg' of
ancient De Heubarth, which bythe tenth century was underthe rule ofthe famous lawmaker,Hywel Dda,
or Howell the Good. This post-Roman period has often been referred to as 'the Age of Saints' and it has
been argued that there was an early Welsh church unique in character. Unfortunately there is little real
evidence, in Gower at least, for a Celtic church with its own structures and practices, but nevertheless
there are a number of important sites. At Llanmadoc church, for example, a Christian tombstone survives
from around AD 500, while Llangennith was the site of a small monastery founded by St Cenydd in the
sixth century and destroyed by Viking raiders. In the porch of Llanrhidian church there is a carved stone
block known as the Leper Stone. This is a massive block of stone, bearing simple representations of hu-
man figures and stylised animals, that is believed to date from the ninth or tenth century (Fig. 28).
FIG 28 . Llanrhidian Church, location of the 'Leper Stone'. (Harold Grenfell)
Colin Matheson for Figure
THE NORMAN INVASION
The small kingdoms survived for over 700 years until the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066. About 35
years later, soon after 1100, Gower had been annexed and was a Marcher Lordship with the new town of
Swansea created as its fortress, complete with castle. The Norman possession of Gower was disputed and
many attempts were made by the rulers of the Welsh states of Cardigan and the Vale of Towy to drive out
the invaders. At least six times, between 1113 and 1217, the Welsh burned the turf and timber castles and
devastated the countryside, but failed to retake the peninsula. The Reverend Latimer Davies in his topic
Pennard and West Gower , published in 1928, recorded that according to the Annales of Winchcomb in